Upgraded
by lovelydangerousdear
Summary: "Valkyrie 2.0, she thought, lips twitching. Then her lips fell, the corners turning her mouth into a smile. Here she was being impressive and mildly funny, and not completely homicidal and no one was around to enjoy it." She's a different Darquesse from the visions, why couldn't he see that? Spoilers of LSoDM. Sort of introspection on Darquesse's side of things.


Standard Disclaimers. I apologize for Darquesse not being completely in canon but I liked toying with her here. :)

Darquesse hadn't thought she would feel like this. She hadn't thought she would feel at all, but she did. The first to days it's hard to adjust, hard to deal with the emotions of her newly melded psyche, and harder to accept that once Darquesse had herself sorted, she didn't feel like Darquesse. In the times before when she had gotten out, Darquesse had squashed Valkyrie's conciseness back, had ruled with her own arrogance and misanthropy. She had hit hard, she had an edge, and she had no inclination of emotion other than malicious glee and wonderment as she discovered a new power or tore someone apart.

Now, however, fully melded with Valkyrie it seemed that Valkyries ties, her feelings and emotions won out over the shallow arrogance of Darquesse's destructive appetite. That's not to say that she didn't have major urges, but at the same time it was hard to grasp that while she held all this power, all this ability, she didn't feel like a world-destroy she was still Valkyrie, just…upgraded.

Valkyrie 2.0, she thought, lips twitching. Then her lips fell, the corners turning her mouth into a smile. Here she was being impressive and mildly funny, and not completely homicidal and no one was around to enjoy it.

She swooped into the air hurtling herself towards Roarhaven; towards Skulduggery. Darquesse stilled like Skulduggery. A lot. And more than just a plaything. She felt it there, next to the love, the protectiveness she felt towards her family. She felt her love for him.

She wanted very badly to see him.

She made it to Roarhaven faster than she thought she could, and the moment she stopped speeding through the clouds the cacophonous rumble of noise she had been hearing became a morsel distinctive mesh of battle sounds. She looked down curiously, but not coldly. She distantly felt anger, bitterness and alarm kindle, lighting to a flame quite suddenly and if she had only been Valkyrie she might have panicked. But she wasn't _just _Valkyrie anymore. She was Valkyrie 2.0. She was calm, even as her emotions roared inside her. She could subdue them.

She descended from the tops of the clouds watching the fight below. She was going to end it, she decided as she watched. She was going to but all these pretentious nobodies in their place.

_ Ah. Still Arrogant then, probably still a bit too prideful too_, her thoughts whispered sounding suspiciously like Skulduggery. She made those thoughts go away and scanned the battlefield briefly. She found her reflection staring at her.

Darquesse waved, but expecting no response she dove. She had a battlefield to clear after all.

As Valkyrie 2.0, Darquesse couldn't lie, she did indeed like the killing a lot more than the old Valkyrie would have. She like showing off her power, she liked putting these people in their place. She liked putting fear into the Warlocks.

What she didn't like was the mess. She didn't know why Scrapegrace thought it would be art, but then again, sometimes what looks like vomit on a canvas was considered art.

Once she's done ending things on the battle field Darquesse doesn't waste time cleaning up, she swoops back into the sky, ignoring the utter horror rolling off her reflection in a mix of indignation and amusement. She'd have to deal with her later, for now; she had to avenge the best Tailor in Ireland, if not for whatever friendship she had with him, then for her skeleton. No one was allowed to hurt him but her, and even she didn't have as much of an inclination to do it anymore.

When she arrived she found Ravel, what appeared to be the burnt up remains of Mist, Skulduggery and China. China did not look well. In fact Darquesse squinted eyeing up the magic in China, she was burning herself up. Foolish thing to do, Darquesse thought, listening into her speech for Skulduggery.

She wasn't feeling jealousy. Not even when Skulduggery began trying to work out how to save the treacherous little-

"I need you to help me get Valkyrie back." Skulduggery corrected.

Darquesse felt smug, if not a little exasperated. He didn't need to get her back she was right here, she thought annoyed.

But enough was enough. It was time for Ravel to go down.

She walked towards them calmly.

"Valkyrie-" Skulduggery began.

It was honestly more surprise than anything that made her throw him back.

Her heart had lurched. That was odd. Usually Skulduggery had to do something unbelievably touching like accept her as a psychopathic murderer, or buy her coffee for that to happen.

In any case she couldn't be distracted now.

"You killed my friend." Darquesse stated plainly and finally, it hit her. She was much better at pushing it back now, but it was still there the angst, the pain, the utter rage that this handsome ally had betrayed not her but one of his oldest friends. She was surprised at how well she could keep this boil down, below the observable surface; surprised that Skulduggery couldn't detect that she was actually feeling these things. Maybe he had done to well of a job convincing himself of her utter maliciousness.

She only half-listened to Ravel's little speech. She made her retorts, she tore down his beliefs, and she laughed inwardly at his acceptance of death.

Honorable, brave men like Ghastly got to die. Men like Ravel, well she would make sure they lived through hell. She was going to make sure that he felt what he had done.

She brought all those emotions over what happened to Ghastly, let them shine; let them mash until she could feel them as a raw force of power, not just human sentiment. She pulled them out of her, and forced them into Ravel, made him feel the burn working through the muscles.

` She left him to his punishment, turning instead to the most beautiful woman in the world, although to be honest, she was looking a bit frumpy from this still sigil. China reached for her, Darquesse reached back, but China stopped. She realized who Darquesse was.

She was hesitating.

Darquesse's heart felt warm, hurt but warm. So then, selfish China Sorrows did really care for her. Old Valkyrie had always had her doubts despite how their relationship had evolved; she was afraid, sometimes, that China had this act going because she saw Valkyrie as an accessory of Skulduggery's to be tolerated.

Those fears had been gone after the truth about China had leaked, but the fondness for this beautiful, flawed, insane woman had never quite died. And now they flared, by just a moment's pause as the woman felt the agony of burning up.

Darquesse smiled. "You're and interesting woman, China Sorrows. In your last moments you have the chance to stop me and save the world- an you hesitate." She wondered if China could pick out the warmth in her tone. Maybe not.

Poor thing couldn't even talk.

"What am I to you?" Darquesse asked, genuinely curious. "Who was I? The daughter you never had? The sister you always wanted? Was I a friend? A plaything? A chance at redemption?"

China didn't have long. She was reaching for Darquesse again. She looked….heartbroken(?) as she wrapped a hand around Darquesse's arm. Pragmatic, practical, but still sad.

Darquesse could feel the burn, but she saw magic now, she knew how it worked now, like Argeddion, but better. She was faster at learning this.

"Oh, dear," Darquesse said, "Did you really think that would work?"

Maybe it was a little cruel. Maybe a little uncalled for.

China struggled to step back, even more so to stay standing. Darquesse drew up a hand and placed it on China's sternum, using her magic to cool the fire. To heal the damage; she had lost too much already. She wasn't letting go of anyone else.

She healed China, chased away the pain and put everything right. She'd have done the same fore Ghastly if she could have. If she had been there when his death was fresh and his soul still about she would have put him back together. If Argeddion did it, she could've too.

She pushes away the jab of frustration at that.

Skulduggery was creeping back up. "Valkyrie."

Darquesse felt her frustration rise. Not this again.

"She's gone, not even a quiet little voice in my mind any more. I won't tell you how easy it was. You don't want to hear things like that." She might be exaggerating this whole meld thing to him, trying to jab him, but she wasn't throwing it in his face. Couldn't he see she was trying to be considerate?

"Let me talk to her."

Darquesse bit back a growl. Why was he so desperate to put things back the way they were? She was better like this. Valkyrie may not be in completely control, but neither was Darquesse. They weren't even separate parts of the consciousness anymore; just a co-dominance of their best traits, Valkyrie's mental stability, with Darquesse's strength, with a little added hostility and a boost in the pride and arrogance departments.

"There is no _her_ anymore, there's just me. There's only me. There are no tricks you can pull to change that. You've used them all up."

Skulduggery tilted his damned head at her, not in the patient, 'I'm listening to you Valkyrie.' The angle was too severe. He was giving her the 'considering the enemy' tilt. "Then what do you want? I've seen the visions. I've seen you kill and destroy. I've seen what you do to Valkyrie's family."

"My family," Darquesse corrected. "And I've seen that too, remember. But I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want to live."

He himself had told her that not all visions come true, why couldn't he believe that she was a different Darquesse? More Valkyrie than the vision suggested, and not quite as insane? She didn't want to kill the world, she still fairly like it. She like her family and their silly mortal lifestyles, and she liked fish and chips and coffee. She didn't want to end the world.

She was fairly certain of that.

"If you're really not a threat, come with me. Let us run some tests."

Anger, the kind of anger born from hurt, flared in her. He wouldn't trust her. It didn't matter that she was Valkyrie 2.0. He was treating her the way he would treat the Reflection, _Stephanie_, he was treating her like a shadow of Valkyrie's given weight.

No. She wasn't going to stand for that.

She wasn't going to submit to him if he couldn't take her as she was. She hadn't even asked for Lord Vile, that should have been a sign that she was better than who she was; that she wasn't the Darquesse of the visions.

She had even saved China. She hadn't killed the Dead Men or her Reflection. She hadn't even harassed them.

"So you can figure out how to stop me Imprison me? No thanks. I'm out, and I have no intention of going back in. But I'm not your enemy Skulduggery. I'm still the same girl I always was. Just you know…" She hesistated, almost about to say 'upgraded,' "don't stand in my way."

"What happens if I do?"

"I don't know," She answered honestly. There see? Old Darquesse would have threatened to rip his soul away. "But won't it be fun finding out?" She smiled mockingly, melting to ceiling to escape.


End file.
